Best TVs: quick links

Right now is a very good time to buy yourself a new 4K or 8K TV. Some of the best TVs from 2019 are now getting big price cuts in anticipation of 2020 models arriving in the next few months, but the coming models aren't as a big a leap forward as we've seen in previous years, so if you keep an eye on the best TV deals for the sets we're featuring here, you can get some astoundingly good sets for remarkable prices.

4K resolution is now the expectation for TVs. The market has fully transitioned from HD, and the best 8K TVs are already laying claiming the high end.

Helpfully, there’s there’s no shortage of 4K content to make the most of your eight million pixels. All the key streaming services, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, YouTube, Apple TV and Rakuten offer a healthy selection. Sky, BT and Virgin Media also have 4K channels available on their respective pay TV platforms. There’s a wide library of 4K Blu-ray discs available too, and is well-established in gaming (with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X taking that to the next level this year).

So whatever Ultra HD set you opt for, you’ll not be short of stuff to watch on it that takes full advantage of the resolution, and all the sets are fantastic at upscaling HD video to look great at 4K.

Of course, not all Ultra HD tellies are created equal. There’s a world of difference between competing sets and the different technologies used – check out our guide to OLED vs QLED to have these two TV types explained in plain English,

Of course, most of the very best sets here are quite expensive, but we also have top options from our Best TVs Under £1000 guide and our Best TVs under £500 guide. and that’s without unpicking the differences between LED, OLED and QLED screen technologies, the various flavours of HDR and the nascent attractions of 8K.

Best TV 2020: which is the top TV?

For viewing in a bright room, our current top choice is the phenomenal Samsung Q950TS. This 8K QLED screen combines high vibrancy with class-leading HDR performance and sensational colour reproduction, plus its upscaling really does make 4K video look close to 8K – it genuinely makes 4K look better than it would normally, which is great at bigger screen sizes.

Thanks to an innovative full-array backlight, it not only delivers convincing shiny highlights, but also does a fine job managing deep black levels. In every sense, it’s a peerless performer.

It is, however, very expensive. If you want a 4K screen that's very nearly as good, with all the HDR and brightness advantages, we recommend the Samsung Q95T/Q90T – the tech is very similar, in a slightly cut-back form – but still a cut above the competition.

If OLED is more your style, because you prefer to watch movies in low light where OLED’s superior near-black performance really comes into its own, our pick would be the Panasonic GZ2000. Not only does this model offer sensational cinematic imagery, but it also sports the best integrated Dolby Atmos sound system we’ve ever heard, complete with convincing up-firing height speakers. It’s the AV enthusiast’s screen of choice.

How to buy the best TV for you

Shortlisting your next television can be a complicated business, but a few simple rules of thumb will help.

As we move from HD to 4K and ultimately 8K, screen size becomes a key consideration. To see incremental differences in resolution, you’ll probably need to buy a bigger screen than you had previously, or move your seating closer. Long story short: think big, then buy bigger.

Counter intuitive it may well be, but ultra-large 8K screens are perfect for smaller rooms, if you want to really see every drop of detail. Everything you think you know about viewing distances is changing…

Then there’s viewing environment. If you tend to watch in high ambient lighting, or during daytime, an LED or QLED screen will typically serve you better. If you prefer to view with low or no lighting, an OLED will deliver greater subjective contrast and shadow detail.

Smart platforms are no longer a decisive reason to buy. All TVs are smart these days, and the choice of apps ubiquitous – focus on image quality, price and any other features you're keen on.

Best TV 2020: why you should upgrade your TV now

We tend to say this all the time, but now really is a great time to invest in a new TV!

2160p 4K resolution opens the door to more detail without any obvious onscreen pixel structure, while wide colour gamut panels and high brightness panels make for vibrant, colour rich images, even when viewing regular HD TV channels.

The quality of HD upscaling has also never been better, as the power of image processors grows exponentially. All the main TV brands are now fast tracking image processing which utilise advanced AI with Deep Learning and Machine Learning, for better picture clarity.

With high dynamic range (HDR), images enjoy a greater sense of realism. HDR is basically a technology that enables TVs to show a broader range of colours and brightness, closer to what the eye is capable of seeing. Bright highlights, such as reflections and fireworks, glint and glow more realistically. HDR also allows for greater subtle shadow detail, adding extra depth.

There is a caveat though. Cheaper LED screens may claim HDR support, but they often lack the inherent brightness to actually do much with it. At the high end, the dynamics will always be more pronounced.

HDR comes in a variety of flavours. Static HDR, aka HDR10, is the standard. It’s used on UHD Blu-ray and by streaming services. Dolby Vision and HDR10+ are dynamic HDR variants, able to optimise HDR characteristics on a scene-by-scene basis, thanks to the use of dynamic metadata.

Dolby Vision is the more widely used of the two. It’s favoured by Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV/iTunes and UHD Blu-ray. HDR10+ appears on some discs, but is more commonly used by Amazon Prime. Most manufactures support one or the other; a few (Panasonic, Philips) favour both.

HLG is a live broadcast HDR standard, still largely undergoing trials – support is widespread.

Audio is often a key differentiator between models. Flagship 4K TVs tend to have enhanced sound systems, often with support for Dolby Atmos, the immersive 3D sound format. Not only is Dolby Atmos good for your ears, having it in a TV can represent a big saving on additional external audio systems.

OK, now that we’ve set the scene, let’s reveal T3's best TV buys of 2020.

Best TVs 2020: the list

(Image credit: Samsung)

1. Samsung 75Q950TS

The best TV on the planet, elevating 4K video close to 8K's immense detail

Specifications

Screen size: 75 inches

Other sizes available: 65, 85 inches

HDR: HDR10, HDR10+, HLG

Dimensions: 1655x1010x307mm

Reasons to buy

+Incredible contrast from local dimming +Huge brightness for the best HDR in the business+Remarkable thin and bezel-less design+Great smart platform

Reasons to avoid

The flagship TV in Samsung's 2020 range is our new pick for the best TV you can buy thanks to the way it takes 4K video and boosts it to really make use of its 8K resolution, even though 8K content is non-existent at this point.

The AI-based upscaling does an incredible job of filling the 33 million pixels with images that still look natural and pristine – not like they've been processed. Given that this TV only comes in at bigger screen sizes, this could not be more welcome. It's the best way to watch 4K, put simply – and the job it does of upscaling regular ol' HD is highly commendable as well, with only a few tiny processing imperfections slipping in that aren't much different to what you see when upscaling on 4K TVs.

Even more luxurious is the HDR performance, thanks to a powerful direct full array backlight, producing massively bright images beyond almost anything we've seen before. But with 480 areas of local dimming for turning that backlight down when needed, it's also capable of colossal contrast, even in bright and dark areas right next to each other. This kind of thing used to be OLED's main strength, but this can go several times brighter than the best OLED TVs, and almost matches it for black level performance – it's just astounding.

It feels like a premium product too – it's stunningly thing and sleek, but more noticeable is that lack of bezels on three sides, so it looks like the image is just suspended in the air. To really complete that effect, all of its ports are housed in an external box, called the One Connect, which connects to the TV over a single cable, making it ideal for tidy living rooms.

Add to that an excellent smart platform that makes it easy to watch any streaming or catch-up services you want, and you have a more-than-complete package. You have the best TV money can buy right now… but it does cost a lot of money.

It comes in 65-inch, 75-inch and 85-inch sizes, which are all available in the UK, though only the 85-inch version is available in the US. The good news is that there's a variant of this TV called the Q900T, which ditches the One Connect box and puts the ports on the TV itself (making it thicker), but is otherwise exactly the same… except for being significantly cheaper.

Reasons to avoid

Featuring a Professional Edition OLED panel able to run brighter than rivals (despite the fact that all OLED TVs use essentially the same panel), this advanced OLED TV is a home cinema solution AV fans will be lusting over.

Designed from the ground-up for home cinema, it features built-in upfiring Dolby Atmos enabled speakers on the rear of the panel. Not that you can tell looking square on. The bezel is wafer thin, distinguished by a subtle forward-facing speaker bar.

Providing the smarts is Panasonic’s My Home Screen 4.0, which courtesy of Freeview Play, offers a full suite of Catch-up TV services, plus Netflix, YouTube and Amazon Prime Video.

Image quality, via the brand’s HCX Pro Intelligent picture processor, is dazzling. In part that’s down to the fact that this Pro Edition panel incorporates heat management techniques first developed for plasma TVs. The result is that the average picture level is boosted by around 30 per cent, which translates to better colour accuracy and brighter images. And the panel has been tuned with Hollywood colourists, to get it as close to what they use when creating the films as possible, so what you're seeing is what the director intended.

HDR performance is first rate. We measured peak brightness above 950 nits. View on the Dynamic setting, and the set edges past 1000 nits – easily the class leader for OLED in this regard.

That Dolby Atmos sound system is optimised using a Space Tuning routine, which takes your room into account as well as your relative viewing position.

Dolby Atmos TV shows have enhanced scale and drama, while Atmos-encoded sporting events really put you in the action, casting crowd noise high and wide. The end result is a real cinematic viewing experience.

Reasons to avoid

The LG CX is the blockbuster of LG's 2020 range: it's got the same image quality at TVs double its price, but delivers them at a price more people can afford, especially now that there's a new 48-inch size that's even less expensive, alongside the 55-inch, 65-inch and 77-inch models.

There's no big leap forward for OLED technology here – the developments in picture quality here are down to improvements in processing, making better-than-ever use of OLED's ability to bring out detail and subtlety in dark areas of the screen.

Brightness peaks at around 750 nits, which is normal for quality OLEDs, but because this handles the breadth of its contrast range better than almost any TV we've seen, it certainly feels brighter than that, and OLED's ability to but bright pixels right next to dark ones continues to look stunning.

The new image processing here also helps with making detail and skin tones more realistic, making the overall image a notable improvement – especially when you're watching something richly cinematic in a room with the right lighting (though the inclusion of Dolby Vision IQ means it will tweak what the screen shows to match the light levels in the rooms without harming contrast).

This is also the perfect TV for those looking at buying a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X – or to use with a PC – thanks to its excellent gaming features. We've measured incredibly low lag of just over 13ms in its gaming mode, which is almost as good as it gets – but the gaming mode keeps an impressive amount of image optimisation still going on, so it looks glorious.

On top of that, it supports Auto Low-Latency Mode, Variable Refresh Rates and 4K video at 120 frames per second – all major features in the next-gen consoles. It also includes Nvidia G-Sync support, for PC gaming with an Nvidia graphics card.

Reasons to buy

Reasons to avoid

Why have we mentioned two models – the Q95T and the Q90T – here? Because they're essentially the same TV, but with a small practical difference. The Q95T has an external box to house all of its connections, which connects to the panel over a single tiny cable; the Q90T has its connections on the TV unit itself, and so is slightly thicker as a result. The Q90T is also notably cheaper in countries where both versions are sold, but note that in some places, you'll only be offered one of them anyway.

With that out of the way, we can talk about the think you really need to know about both the Q95T and the Q90T: the fantastic HDR images you get from the QLED panel. The key thing here is the brightness of over 2000 nits – double what you get from even the brightest OLED sets, and easily four times brighter than your average budget TV. This is thanks to a full array backlight, much like the 8K Samsung Q950TS above, and combined with the wide, rich colours of an OLED panel, it looks just incredible. It's so vibrant and lush, but still maintains realism for people's skin tones and grittier scenes.

Localised dimming means it can give you pretty good depth of contrast too – while it can't match the OLED screens for the nuance of detail in dark scenes, it is able to put bright and dark elements next to each other with a very limited about of backlight bleeding between then.

The AI-based upscaling is massively impressive too, so both HD and 4K sources look magnificent. And it's well-suited to gaming, thanks to low input lag and a load of future-proofed features for next-gen consoles.

It's a premium-priced 4K screen, there's no doubt, but you can see where your investment has gone – it's bold and beautiful.

The LG C9 is probably the best bang-for-buck TV on the market right now. It offer high-end OLED image quality and processing, but without a high-end price tag. And it's still packed with other features.

It offers four HDMI inputs, and supports VRR (Variable Frame Rate) and ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) for serious gaming – the next-gen consoles will make great use of these.

Freeview Play brings with it a full complement of catch-up services for the UK, while streaming apps include NOW TV, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, BBC iPlayer, ITV hub, All 4, Demand 5 and Rakuten TV. LG’s webOS smart platform has had a tidy up, giving a cleaner user experience. Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa are also built in.

Image quality is excellent, with pin-sharp detail and vibrant colours. Being OLED, dynamics are pronounced.

HDR support covers standard HDR10, Dolby Vision and HLG. We measured HDR peak brightness at around 800 nits. Black level and near-black shadow performance is close to faultless.

The set’s HDR Effect, which boosts SDR content to theoretically look HDR, is a bit hit or miss though. We’d opt not to use it.

While Dolby Atmos decoding is on board, the TV can't do much with the format. To make the most of Atmos sources, you’ll need to bitstream out to an Atmos soundbar or home cinema system. Its own speaker are fine, but nothing to get excited over.

Physically a beast, it stands 1.33m tall, so you’ll need to clear a space in your fancy loft apartment to accommodate it.

This audio system, wrapped in acoustically transparent Kvadrat cloth, is a three-channel design with left, centre, right drivers. Tweeters are mounted strategically at either edge of the cabinet, to produce a wide stereophonic soundstage. The centre channel warrants that classic Bowers decoupled tweeter-on-top treatment, familiar from its high-end loudspeakers.

The set’s panel performance is in line with Philips other current 4K OLED offerings, which for the most part means superb definition, excellent contrast and vibrant hues, courtesy of a third-gen, dual-chip iteration of Philips P5 image processor. The icing on the cake is Ambilight mood lighting, which we're big fans of.

HDR support is comprehensive, with HDR, HLG, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision all catered for. Peak brightness and colour saturation are extremely inviting. No one does televisual eye candy quite like Philips – some will prefer a more naturalist approach, but we're more than happy with it.

If Dolby Atmos isn’t a prerequisite, and you have the space to accommodate this techy tower, then the 984 is quite the audiovisual setup.

Reasons to buy

Reasons to avoid

Sony’s current Master Series OLED hero may just be a minor revision of the previous AF9, but it’s still a major temptation when it comes to our best screens of the year shortlist.

Beautifully designed, with a slightly smaller footprint than its predecessor, its wafer-thin bezel rests on the central pedestal stand. There are no obvious loudspeakers, because this model uses Sony’s Acoustic Surface Audio+ sound system, which employs vibrating acoustic transducers placed on the rear of the panel, meaning that the front of the TV itself is vibrating to create a big, full sound, though a couple of rear-facing woofers help too.

This innovative approach allows the TV to double as the centre channel speaker in a multichannel (3.1 or larger) audio system. A pair of stereo spring clip terminals on the rear allows the AG9 to go into centre speaker mode.

Image quality is superb. Sony’s X1 Ultimate image processor does a fabulous job upscaling HD SDR content, while native 4K is super sharp and contrasty. Object-Based Super Resolution technology boosts contrast, detail and colour at an onscreen object level, while a Pixel Contrast Booster enhances colour and contrast in bright areas. For the kind of programmes you watch every day, no other set fares as well.

The screen’s HDR performance is admirable, and looks particularly naturalistic with Dolby Vision content from Netflix. We found that the Peak Luminance setting is best enjoyed High for HDR, and Medium for SDR, while the Advanced Contrast Enhancer and Black Adjust are ideal on Medium.

HDR support covers HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision, but not HDR10+. Deep black and shadow detail performance are refined.

Reasons to buy

Reasons to avoid

If you’re going to buy 8K, it clearly pays to supersize, and there’s currently no better 8K HDR experience to be had than from Sony’s epic 85-inch ZG9. It combines unmatched image clarity and HDR vibrancy with a brilliantly efficient sound system.

Also available as an improbable 98-incher (a snip at £84,999), the ZG9 achieves its astounding HDR brightness courtesy of a highly effective Full Array Backlight Master Drive, which uses a backdrop of precisely calibrated LED lights, allied to 8K X-tended Dynamic Range PRO picture processing. Contrast and HDR punch are sensationally good.

The screen accommodates this hefty backlight with a so-called blade architecture design. The panel sits atop a wider frame, which also provides a place to hide four forward-facing speakers.

This Acoustic Multi-Audio sound system is inspired by (but unrelated to) Sony’s OLED Acoustic Surface Audio technology, and we like how it sounds. The quad speaker arrangement is particularly effective when it comes to steering dialogue and effects around the (big) screen.

Like other Sony high-end displays, the set employs the Android TV smart OS, the interface of which looks comically huge on this massive display. It also has integrated Google Assistant.

Handling the 8K heavy lifting is the latest iteration of Sony’s X1 Ultimate image engine, which feels like it's finally being let off the leash here.

HDR support covers standard HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision. However, there’s no compatibility with HDR10+, the dynamic metadata rival to Dolby Vision.

While there’s zero 8K content around so far (though there may be as soon as this summer) test footage from Sony has left us hungry to see more. The good news is that 4K upscaling also looks jaw-droppingly fine. Sony’s 8K X-Reality Pro upscaling, which uses a new, dedicated 8K image reference database, is clearly doing a stonking job.

This Master Series monster hints at the future of TV. You don’t need it, but you’ll probably still want it.

Shhh, don't let the secret out, but there's really very little difference in the panel or picture processing technology between this and the LG C9 above (or indeed, the much more expensive G9 or W9 models).

The C9's screen is generally measured as a little brighter at its peak than the B9, so if you want the best picture, it still has a slight edge, but the gap between them really isn't big at all. That's party down to the fact that the B9 has all the same electronics powering it, including the same strong upscaling and motion handling, plus 120Hz support, and variable refresh rates, and all the connections you could want.

There's no drop in HDR support either, so you get the dynamic images of Dolby Vision support, plus the webOS operating system has plenty of apps that support this, including Netflix and Apple TV. Other UK catch-up services are present, as is Freeview Play and Amazon Prime Video, though the HDR10+ support of the latter can't be used, because the TV itself doesn't support it.

However, the sound has definitely been skimped on in this TV, to save money. But that's fine – you don't have to spend much at all on one of the best soundbars to compensate.

The 55-inch version of this TV has occasionally to just over the £1,000 mark, which is superb value for a future-proof set. But we've picked the 65-inch version because it's the best-value big OLED we've seen so far – it's often available for £1,699, which just about edges out other budget OLEDs at the time of writing.

(Image credit: Panasonic)

10. Panasonic TX-58GX800

A great 4K OLED TV for cinematic performance

Specifications

Screen size: 58 inches

Other sizes available: 40, 50, 65 inches

HDR: HDR10, Dolby Vision, HLG, HDR10+

HDMI: 4

USB: 2

Dimensions: 1300x820x60mm

Reasons to buy

+Great size screen for the cash+Detailed and sharp 4K images+Full HDR support

Reasons to avoid

This is one of Panasonic's more budget-focused TVs, but you'd be hard-pressed to convince anyone who sees it of that. Not only does it offer colourful, precise visuals from 4K sources, it has every HDR base covered, so it's always eking the most out of every shot.

Of course, being a less expensive LED TV, you won't hit the spectacular bright highs on offer from the likes of the Samsung Q90R that tops our list, but what you see is still rich and exciting.

Processing is strong for motion control, which makes this an especially good buy for sports fans, though upscaling from HD isn't its strongest suit (though it certainly isn't bad), so there are other options at a similar price range that are better for that – our list of the best TVs under £1000 goes into more detail.

58 inches isn't a very common size at the moment, but expect to see it become more common in the future – it's only a little physically larger than 55 inches, but feels like a nice extra size upgrade. And here, it gives you a superb amount of real estate for the money.

(Image credit: Samsung)

10. Samsung UE43RU7020

The best TV you can get for under £500

Specifications

Screen size: 43 inches

Other sizes available: 50, 55, 65, 70, 75 inches

HDR: HDR10, HLG, HDR10+

HDMI: x3

USB: x2

Dimensions: 970x560x60mm

Reasons to buy

+Strong upscaling+Good colour and contrast for the price+Great software

Reasons to avoid

Though this is as affordable as Samsung TVs get, you won't feel like it's been neglected in any way – the plastic build feels perfectly premium, there's support for HDR10+ advanced HDR, and the software is essentially the same as that on higher-end models, including wide support for streaming and catch-up services, including Netflix, Apple TV (with AirPlay 2), Amazon Prime Video, and loads more.

And, crucially, the image quality also surpasses what you'd expect for the price – everything looks sharp and detailed, and it even does a damn good job of upscaling from HD, so if you tend to rely on watching non-4K stuff (which is most of it still, after all), you really won't feel like you got a budget TV here.

As an added bonus, it has a tiny 10ms response time, which means it's a great choice for gaming.

T3's TV buying tips

So you've read your rundown of the best TVs to buy and you've hopefully settled on a choice. But perhaps you have a few more questions? Our in-depth guide to buying a TV should have all the answers you need, or you can peruse the truncated version below…

Should I upgrade my HD TV to a 4K TV?

Yes, definitely (although, to be fair, if you buy a new TV that’s what you’re going to get whether you like it or not).

The resolution of 4K/Ultra HD is four times higher than Full HD, at 3840x2160. It means a far more detailed picture, with content requiring a lot more bandwidth and storage space. 4K TVs tend to be good at upscaling HD video to Ultra HD, and native 4K content is now widely available from a variety of sources.

What types of TV display can I choose from?

OLEDTV

The lighting on OLED (organic light emitting diode) TVs is achieved by passing an electric current through an emissive, electroluminescent film. This technique produces beautiful colour and high contrast and also enables screens to be extremely thin and flexible. LG Display is the only supplier of 4K OLED screens to mainstream TV manufacturers, meaning they all use the same panels, but picture processors and implementation all vary, so you can still expect differences between brands.

Quantum Dot/QLED

Samsung is the leading exponent of QLED, a variant of LED LCD display technology that uses a highly efficient Quantum Dot filter that increases brightness and colour volume. QLED screens with a full array backlight offer the best performance when it comes to HDR peak brightness and LCD black level control.

LED TV: Direct LED

Sometimes called FALD (Full Array Local Dimming), these displays are backlit by an array of LEDs (light emitting diodes) directly behind the screen. This enables localised dimming – meaning immediately adjacent areas of brightness and darkness can be displayed more effectively – and greatly improves contrast.

LED TV: Edge LED

With these Edge LED TVs, the LEDs of the backlight are mounted along the edges of the panel. This arrangement enables radically slender displays, but can't achieve the same picture quality as directly lit LED sets. However, Edge LED displays do come in far cheaper which is why the more budget LED TVs out there use this technology.

What should I look for when I'm buying a TV?

Here are some of the things we look for when we review a TV screen, so you should, too...

Contrast: Bright whites shouldn't have any signs of green, pink or blue in them, while blacks should look solid and not washed out, grey, green or blue.

Colours: Look at how bright and solid they are; how noiseless their edges are; how 'dotty' richly saturated areas are and how natural skin looks, especially in dim scenes.

Fine detail: How much texture does the screen give? Does a tree look like a green lump, or can you see the individual leaves?

What about TV sound?

To provide the best audio to complement the pictures, your TV should be hooked up to a separate audio system, be it soundbar or home cinema separates, but this isn't always an option. So, here's what we listen for when testing a TV's speakers:

Bass: Deep, rounded rumbles that don't cause the set to rattle or speakers to distort cramp or overwhelm the rest of the sound; but that expand when needed.

Soundstage width/depth: A good TV should throw the sound away from the TV, to the sides, forward and back, to give an extra dimension to what's on screen, without losing any coherence.

How many HDMI sockets do you need?

For a living room TV you should be looking for a minimum of three HDMI inputs, but ideally four if you want to attach a set-top box as well as games consoles, Blu-ray player and media streamer.

Do you want to hang your TV on the wall?

Most flatscreens adhere to the VESA mounting standard, so finding a wall mount that fits should be straightforward. Ensure that the wall in question is strong enough for your large flatscreen. Don’t make the mistake of fixing your wall mount too high (above a fireplace is usually a bad idea). The panel should be in your eye line when sitting at seat or sofa level. Watched from an angle, screens can appear to lose contrast and colour.